AC Milan are a major step closer to building their own stadium in San Donato and clear similarities can already be drawn between the project and Bayern Munich’s current stadium.
As highlighted by La Gazzetta dello Sport (as seen below), there are various features of the Allianz Arena in Munich that Milan would certainly like to replicate with their own new stadium when it is constructed.
The Allianz Arena has a 75,024 capacity, slightly more than the 75,000 that Milan are aiming for, and it is full for virtually every game. It has 106 rooms that can be used all year round for events and meetings, 28 kiosks, two restaurants with 1,000 seats each, a bistro with 400 seats, a megastore that is open every single day, and a museum that can be visited all year round.
These are all ways in which Bayern can earn money outside of a matchday. Since it was opened in 2005, it has hosted six World Cup matches, a Champions League final, four Euro 2020 matches, and an NFL match.
It will be a Euro 2024 venue and will host the 2025 Champions League final. Despite getting these major events and having sold-out matches each week, it is not near the centre of the city.
It is in the north, a similar distance from the centre of Munich as Milan’s stadium will be from the centre of Milan. The space means there are around 11,000 parking spaces, and a metro line that takes fans from the centre to the stadium in 20 minutes, with a 15-minute walk needed on the other side.
Cycling to the stadium is also very easy, if the weather permits. This is the sort of blueprint that Milan must try to follow for their new stadium.
Bayern model of running the club is the only viable and sustainable model in modern football on the long run. But until the stadium is built and repaid or starts generating high income and earnings, we’ll just have to accept the fact there will be sales of our most prized assets and it will hurt before we reap the rewards.
I blame Silvio for not doing so after 2002 or no later than 2007 CL triumph. We would never have to go through banter era and would still be on par with football elite.
100% agree with your sentiment about Bayern. IMHO it is the best run club on the planet. And I also blame Berlusconi for holding onto the old model for far too long. If he had pushed for the Portello project 10 years earlier, we might not have had the banter era, as you said, and we’d probably still be under Berlusconi family ownership (for better or worse). 48,000 is a bit small for Milan (I think 55k should be the absolute minimum), but if Juventus is doing fine in a 42,000 seat stadium we could have made 48,000 work.